The Interview

Well a few days after our first encounter it is time for my first ever interview for a management job. I am both nervous and excited. For some reason I have a feeling that this could be the job for me. So I arrive to Paris around 2PM CET and am greeted by Ricardo who is very pleased to meet me. So after we meet up we take a taxi to his hotel where we will be using one of the private rooms for the interview.

A while later…..

“So Kévin why do you want to become a manager in the world of football, I already know you have the IQ but I want to know why?”“Well honestly I have never really been a huge supporter in the sport where I am singing and cheering hardcore like Ultras or other hardcore fans but I love the whole theory side to it and that is the drive that makes me want to coach.”“Ok so with that we are currently in 5th place at the midseason break, tell me what you can do to improve the squad and reach a better placing by season end.”“Well that is a very hard job you want me to do but it is doable, first thing first is that I will be having sessions on my tactic that I will implement, it is a 4-2-3-1 that uses a mixture of counter attack and a heavy attack. My main goal is to get the season over with on a positive note and the real work will begin the day after the final match.”“So we finish between 4th and 6th and it is the offseason what will you do?”“Well this is where I will get this team to the top, first is have a major meeting with the staff and review film to see who should stay or go, then when it comes to transfers my goal is to recruit some of the better players from other teams in the league and get them here, for outside of transfers I will be looking to other countries in the OFC and the lower levels of France. Finally with training camp a lot of drills and preparation for the upcoming season.”“Sounds good, you seem to want to get the most team oriented players at the best prices is that correct?”“Absolutely, I want to only get free transfers and focus on younger players. My system is not really designed for a squad full of 30+ year olds as it is a very fast passed system.”“Good, now on an important part. Well let’s say you do become very successful after the end of next season and clubs are wanting you, will you jump ship or stay with us?”“I will stay with this club for as long as you want me here, I am still quite young so there is no rush for a new job and I want to at least get this team to Champions League by the time I am done.”“Great, so with this I think I would like you to become our new manager, I feel you will be a great asset to this club and that I am excited to be the chairman that starts your career, I will be giving you a contract that will last until December 31, 2016 and you will be paid €30,000 a year. That is pretty good for a part time contract especially for here in Oceania. It is nice not having to be an amateur club like the majority of the confederation.”“Wow that is a good contract and I look forward to all of this.”“Good I would like you here on 22 June to give you time to settle in and prepare yourself. Your first day will be on 1 July. With that you will be able to train the club until your first official match on 25 July. I will see you in a few weeks!!”

Wow oh my god I now have my first job in management. Let me tell you this I was not expecting to get a job and one in another country on the other side of the world. At least they speak French in Nouvelle-Calédonia so that shouldn’t be too hard. Ricardo will be sending me information on the club here in the next few days so that gives me time to study up and get a game plan going. Now I have a few more weeks left here in France so time to make the best of it.

AS Mont-Dore name new coach

Frenchmen Kévin Gauthier is looking to to lead his new club to a league title in his first ever coaching job. Previously Gauthier had no playing experence to his name.

" I am very excited for this opportunity to start my career here with AS Mont-Dore," Gauthier says.

The 33 year old native of Le Havre, France will be undertaking his first ever coaching job and will be taking control mid season. The club is looking to win their first title since 2011 and currently they are in 5th place and are looking to improve during the second half of the season. If the club ends up winning the league they return to OFC Champions League for the first time since 2012.

It is interesting how Gauthier was selected to become the head coach. According to the chairman they meet during the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final at a Parisian bar. During the meeting the chairman was impressed with his (Gauthier's) knowledge of the sport despite not playing at all.

Currently Gauthier is still in France and will be flying out a week before his contract starts on 1 July. Once he arrives he is looking to take advantage of the break and get the players comfortable with the new system.

AS Mont-Dore return to action on 25 July as they travel to face AS Auteuli.

Au Revoir France jusqu'à ce que nous nous reverrons

18 June, 2015 at 11:00am CEST
Charles de Gaulle Airport , Paris

Wow today I leave for my new job in Nouvelle-Calédonia and I have a lot of emotions going through my head. I honestly do not know when the next time I am back in France but this new adventure awaits. The best part is that Nouvelle-Calédonia is very French so at times I won’t feel as homesick as I think I will be.

Last night was really nice as a bunch of my friends and family had hosted a nice going away party for me. I will miss everyone and it is crazy I am leaving France for a job. Hanging with my friends one last time for a long time was very nice. At least we all will stay in touch and all that. I hope someday they all can come see me in action. There is one person I am going to regret leaving. Recently I have meet this beautiful lady from Caen named Natalie. She was pretty cool and good looking haha. I doubt I will have a chance at her now haha, oh well.

The part of this journey that is going to suck the most is the flight. Unlike an easy day trip to North America, Africa or West Asia this is one long ass flight. I will be flying out of Charles de Gaulle Airport and have a layover in Tokyo and finally in Nouméa. The crazy part is the flight from Paris to Tokyo is going to be around eleven and a half hours. In Tokyo I get a nice three hour layover but then another eight hours to my final destination. I leave Paris at 1:55PM and will arrive in Nouméa at 10:50 PM the next day or two days from then. I have no clue because the time change is going to be a killer.

Now what will I be doing during this flight. Well a ton of sleeping and studying up on the club and the league. I am very excited to see how things turn out when I get there and hopefully the players are very receptive about me just starting out. I am more nervous about my first impression than anything else.

As I was on my laptop I noticed a pretty cool article from the Oceana Football Conference’s main website about me getting hired. That is so damn cool that I got into an article about my first job. I hope I can get more articles about myself and the team.

Well then before I board my flight in a bit let me close with these thoughts on my upcoming career. The biggest thing I want to do is show the world that I do not need to be a player to coach. That is probably the biggest obstacle facing prospective managers. I think you can easily be able to coach without playing it just takes a lot of time and effort to study up.

Finally the one thing I want to take away from this is no matter how great I become or shitty this might turn out I have done something many haven’t done. You see I might not become the greatest manager of all time or even top 50, I just want to have fun and do something I love. The fact that I am traveling around the world to a place 16,000km away from home shows what I will do for my passion.

THIS IS THE FINAL PART OF THE PRELUDE TO MANAGEMENT
Next update we begin my journey into management

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